Lunar Lunacy
by TheseScarletDropsofINK
Summary: When Zero Kiryu is stalked by a handsome stranger who claims to be the king of all vampires, what else is he supposed to believe? It must be the full moon. KaZe
1. Prologue

Lunar Lunacy

~Prologue~

Silence was an echo: a repetition of a hollow void welcoming you with a greeting that could only be felt deep in your bones. It slithered and slunk down your spine, seizing your lungs and taking your breath captive. The only way to plead for its release was with the sudden trembling beat of your heart. It was this eerie silence that greeted her upon her arrival at the forgotten crypt. Its claws raked upon the hollowed halls and vaulted ceilings, thudding noiselessly against the travertine stones that imprisoned it. Its eyes were a black sea of marble that reflected the endless stone columns and arches that ran like a maze through the underground mausoleum. The heel of her boot knocked against its surface as she stepped into its embrace surefootedly.

Iron scones wrestled into elegant displays ran along the walls, in their palms a flame burning with excitement. It flickered, swayed, reaching fingers towards its neighbor to whisper words of eager gossip at the appearance of an intruder. They watched her progress steadily, eyes silently encouraging her misstep and urging her down one of the many paths that lead to nowhere. She moved without hesitation, this intruder, indifferent to the abysmal will of a place that had long been left to its own echoes.

Here, however, standing before a large double door, she hesitated. The silence stilled, whether in respect or anticipation, she did not know; nor did she care. Lifting pale fingers, she lowered the hood from around her face to allow the faded violet of her eyes to look upon the crest carved into the limestone. The sight of the royal symbol brought on a sudden pang of loss she couldn't help but sink in for a moment.

With a strength unbefitting her appearance, she stepped forward and pushed open the door. There was a heavy groan that seemed to rattle through the open chamber as the greedy glow from the flames in the hall attempted to eat up the darkness inside. Through the low lighting, she saw the circular room; wide and empty. At the center was a high altar, it cradled a single coffin embedded with the proud crest of the white orchid in its palms. Atop, sat a lone shadow, its ragged hair long and spread about him like a spider's trap.

The figure did not move, but a sudden rush of death surrounded her, bringing to life a fear she had long since forgotten. It thickened the air with a palpable hunger and an overwhelming shroud of darkness that inspired cowardice. Nevertheless, she stepped forward and immediately fell to a knee, her hand trembling as she laid it over the heart that sped in her chest.

"Welcome back, Kaname-sama."

There was no answer, save for the bloodcurdling red-eyes that pierced the darkness.

* * *

><p><em>You'll never understand the amount of torture I went through to write this tiny prologue, but it involves a fallen picture frame, pizza sauce, bottles of water, and lots of accidents. Let it never be said that I am not a clumsy person.<em>

…_and I know I have other stuff to update…But this has just been sitting quietly, waiting for the Halloween month to show up and for me to actually write it on time…so, sorry. Dx_


	2. The Full Moon

*climbs out of her grave*

Man was that steep! Took me two months to crawl out of there just to get you guys an update. Dx

* * *

><p><strong>Lunar Lunacy<strong>

The Full Moon

* * *

><p><em>They say people go crazy on a full moon. Until that night, he had never believed such crap.<em>

* * *

><p><strong>The Hunter's Lounge<strong> was an exclusive upscale lounge bar that catered to the tastes of the social elite. From the elegant furnishings of carved wood, velvet upholstery and walls of polished Sapele mahogany to the opulent atmosphere set off by the dim lighting of candles displayed on vibrant crystal holders, every inch of the establishment sung money and class.

It was in here that the young man behind the bar, busy with coating the mouth of a cocktail glass with a mixture of sugar and gold leaf, had finally found his break. The twenty-six year old bartender had been bouncing back and forth from one hectic job to another (particularly at rowdy nightclubs that weren't worth their pay) before finally landing a place at The Hunter's Lounge. Not only was his hourly wage the highest he'd ever been offered (which was to be expected from a place that sold twenty-five hundred dollar shots), but even on slow nights, he never left with less than five-hundred in tips.

"Will this be all?" he asked.

The woman standing on the other end of the bar nodded, though the bartender's eyes were trained on straining the martini mix from the shaker into the glass. They didn't see the appreciative stare that danced from the tips of his silver hair, over his handsome, young face with gem like eyes and a tempting mouth; they didn't catch the slight press of her lips as she eyed his neck, where the crest of a black tattoo was barely visible behind the white collar of his uniform. Their attention remained on the cocktail glass he was sliding over the black lacquer bar top, only meeting her sultry gaze when he was done. She reached out and he caught her hand, distinctly aware of the crisp bill now clasped between their fingers.

"I'll be sure to come back if there's anything else I need," she said before picking up her drink and walking off with a provocative sway in her step.

"Tch." A blond seated at the end of the bar shook his head at the sight. "She over tipped you, didn't she?"

Zero Kiryu turned his attention to the pair of annoyed blue eyes and lifted the fifty (and the phone number) between his fingers, enjoying the bitter resentment that twisted the other's expression.

"You know she only tipped you for your face," came what he supposed was meant to be an insult.

"I don't mind," he shrugged, plucking a glass from the drain board and dumping it into the sink for a wash. He couldn't deny that a large part of his job had always been using his looks; he had a unique coloring of silver and lavender, a toned enough body and an okay looking face. He didn't consider himself to be the epitome of "hot." but in his white dress shirt with his sleeves folded back on his forearms, his red tie loose around his collar and hidden beneath his black vest, he knew he was attractive enough to get away with _some_ extra money. The fact that he had gathered a fairly large following of loyal patrons in a mere three months attested to that. Not to say that Zero Kiryu lacked any knowledge when it came to mixing drinks. He had been working at bars straight out of high school, he knew his fair share of mixology just as well as he knew that the more attractive you were, the more tips came in.

"Hey." The blond smacked the bar top, much to Zero's annoyance. "Give me 'nother one."

For all he was worth (and he was actually worth quite a lot), Hanabusa Aidou was an obnoxious, pampered rich boy who lived to test Zero's patience. That being said, it came as no surprise that Aidou was a frequent patron; The Hunter's Lounge _was_, after all, the place where _his_ kind liked to mingle and toast nine-hundred dollar champagne to their wealthy lots in life and sneer upon the working class. Although Aidou should be drinking champagne in the first place, he had a very low tolerance for alcohol (which was currently on full display at the moment).

Despite being the same age, Aidou looked a lot younger. Many said it was because of his boyish charms; Zero thought it came from his immaturity (that, too, was currently on display). See, because Aidou couldn't handle a drink if it was watered down with a bucket of ice. So why did he religiously show up to the place if it wasn't for the extensive menu that showcased exceptional, rare wines and some of the world's most sought after spirits? It sure as hell wasn't the lounge itself; most days Aidou spent half his time here hiding from the greedy hands that pawed at him for his wealth, his mind, and even his body. The answer was very simple; it was the very same reason why, despite having a low tolerance, he was sitting at Zero's end of the bar, slapping away at the counter like a chimpanzee, immaturely demanding another drink.

Zero dropped a glass of water down on the bar. It took a moment for the blond to process that the drink sitting before him was, well, _sitting before him._ It was also not the one he'd ordered.

"If I give you any more," Zero stated, "Kain will kill me." And that was a sad truth.

Blue eyes hissed fire at him. There was a group of cheers from the other end of the bar that only seemed to help deepen the scowl etched on Aidou's face.

Beside Zero, there were three other bartenders working the main bar: he worked at the top end, closest to the entry; Kazuki and Ayaki took up the center; and at the far end was Akatasuki Kain, who was entertaining a small crowd by setting a drink on fire. It wasn't unusual for the red-head to put some flair into his work, but he rarely put this much effort on a slow night.

When Zero glanced back at Aidou, he caught the longing expression in the glassy eyes that were watching Kain. It was then he suddenly realized why the blond was throwing tantrums for drinks they both knew he couldn't stomach (and for the record, it only took him this long to realize it because he'd been trying to ignore Aidou the whole time).

As a professional who had tended bars all over the city, he was well aware that it was in his job description to help create a good atmosphere for the customers. Right now, Aidou's horrible disposition was creating a dark vortex that was killing the mood for anyone near his half of the bar. That being said, it was in Zero's best interest to try and cheer him up. Admittedly, "why don't you just suck up your pride and go apologize for whatever you did," _wasn't_ the best way to start, but it was _Aidou_. Whatever happened _was_ most likely _his_ fault in the first place.

Apparently, Aidou seemed appalled by the notion, given by the way his entire body seemed to jerk in protest. He wobbled in his seat a bit. "What makes you think _I_ did something?" A finger shot a bullet of accusation down the bar to where Kain was openly charming a female customer. "He's the one who's flirting with an ugly blonde when _I'm_ sitting over here!"

"It's his job," Zero said, choosing not to mention that Aidou was also an ugly blond and that if he wanted Kain's attention so much, he should be on the _other_ end of the bar, annoying his lover, _not_ his lover's friend.

"He's a bartender, not a host!"

"Sometimes there's very little difference."

Aidou looked repulsed. "You're supposed to be my friend, can't you be more sympathetic to my plight?"

"Aidou." Zero's lips pulled into a dry smile. "Since when have we _ever_ been friends?"

"Since high school!" The way the blond had said it so matter-of-factly made Zero want to smack him. Zero didn't have the best of memories to go on, but he remember well enough how Aidou was back then. They definitely had _not_ been friends. "You spread rumors about me being part of the Yakuza and _that_ made us friends?"

"Well you shouldn't have bleached your hair!"

"I _don't_ bleach my-"

"Besides, what sort of normal student gets a tattoo on their neck?" Aidou demanded. _"None! _And your attitude never helped- the whole school was already scared of you!"

"Is that supposed to justify you?"

"Shut up!"

"Zero."

The quibbling pair tensed.

Kain walked over, rubbing at the tension behind his neck as he let Zero know he was going on his break now. Zero was a bit surprised. Kain, or as Zero nicknamed him "lovesick-Kain," hadn't so much as glanced in Aidou's direction. Usually, all Kain did was stare at his lover- another reason why Zero hated when Aidou was around. Kain would space out every now and again, watching while the blond fought off suitors of all kinds. But just now...

"Whatever you did must have been bad."

"Stop saying it was my fault," Aidou grumbled, petulantly sinking in his seat. "I did nothing. It was the full moon."

The ever so supporting bartender scoffed.

"Stop looking at me like I'm crazy!"

"Just tell me what happened."

Aidou's shoulders slumped in defeat as he fiddled with his glass of water- which he still wasn't drinking. "My parent's arranged an omai*."

Zero winced. "I'm guessing you still haven't told your parents you're dating Kain."

Poor Kain. How he could silently suffer for the likes of Aidou, he would never understand. The two had been dating for years now, but only a few people knew this. Kain, stupid love-sick Kain, was like putty in Aidou's hands. Kain had always been a strong and independent person who seemed to manage fine on his own, but the moment Aidou was around, he turned into some blind, besotted fool. Love was a scary thing and Zero was glad he had never experienced it.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Aidou snapped, his eyes heated with stirring emotions. "Sorry father, mother, but I, your only son, have fallen recklessly in love with my persistent childhood friend (who may or may not hate me at the moment) and have been sleeping with him– a man, mind you- for the past _six_ years."

"Maybe a bit less dramatic?"

Aidou glared. "You're no help. You obviously have very little occupying your giant head." With a sigh like surrender, Aidou laid his own head against the bar, staring blindly at the wall. He couldn't believe things had turned out like this. Everything had been going great until his parents decided that it was time he got married. "Now Kain wont even look at me..."

"Well, what did you expect?" The heartless bartender demanded. "Kain has to be the most patient man in the world to put up with you, but even _he_ has to feel insecure when you're always hiding your relationship. Now that your parents want you married, you have very little options: You either tell them about Kain, or end his suffering and break up with him."

Aidou was quiet for a while before he let out a long sigh, Zero watching his lithe shoulders heave as though there were lifting a physical weight off them. "You're a horrible bartender."

Zero scoffed. "I'm only telling you the truth."

"I hope you get hit by a car."

"..."

"I hope it's a semi-truck."

"It wont change your situation."

"It would cheer me up."

* * *

><p><strong>It was <strong>**just passed one in the morning when ****Zero Kiryu ****took his break****. **He hated to leave the melancholy blond unsupervised at the bar, but he'd been standing through his eight hour shift with no breaks; if he didn't get one now, he was going to kill everyone. It hadn't been a very long break, but upon his return, he realized it had been long enough for the moron at the bar to get completely smashed. There was some sleazy suit sitting beside him and trying out his social skills. Unfortunately for him, Zero worked behind a bar long enough to realize what his real intentions were. He sent the bastard a good glare, hoping the backlash for such treatment wouldn't get him fired. The unspoken threat had the man removing the hand from the blond's thigh and excusing himself.

Oblivious, drunk Aidou didn't seem to realize there had even _been_ someone sitting beside him, he was too busy complaining about why no one had taken his coat (the imported tweed jacket that he wasn't actually wearing). There was a champagne tulip glass glinting innocently beneath the lighting in front of him- Zero snapped his glare to Ayaki, who flinched, but still tried to look like she was busy wiping down glasses. The brunette had always been weak in the knees for Aidou, Zero was sure the blond had taken advantage of that. For a moment, he wondered if Aidou had asked for champagne because he knew it was the fastest way to get drunk, or because he actually preferred that to any of the hard liqueurs.

With a resigned sigh, he ordered Ayaki to cover for him while he took Aidou out back; he didn't give her a chance to refuse before he was walking out of the bar and around to where Aidou was slumping in his seat. Wrapping one of the blond's arms over his shoulder and grabbing him around the waist, Zero began to lead him towards the back, cursing when Aidou's legs seemed to turn to jelly. It was a great effort to get the drunk bastard to the staff lounge, but relief washed over Zero when he'd finally made it.

_D__amn it, why was he so heavy?!_ Zero pushed Aidou (and all his dead weight) onto the leather couch, visibly reaching the limits of his patience. It felt like all he'd done tonight was babysit a child. He had barely even made any drinks tonight, which meant he hadn't been tipped very much, _all_ because Aidou kept scaring his customers away. "Why are you always such a pain in the ass?"

Even on the verge of falling asleep, the ever talkative Aidou began mumbling something under his breath. Not that Zero was listening. He pushed Aidou's legs off the plush cushions and took a seat with a sigh. He let his head rest on the back of the couch and, just for a moment, closed his own eyes in exhaustion. Just as Zero was on the brink of falling asleep, Aidou's voice snapped him back.

"It's a full moon."

Reluctantly forcing his back off the couch, Zero leaned forward and rubbed his face with his hands to ward off sleep. He barely acknowledged Aidou's drunk murmuring with a, "so what?"

Aidou shifted on the couch, lying on his side and slipping his hands under his head to get more comfortable. "It drives people mad," he said, and strangely began to chuckle.

Zero gave him a cautious look. "I think _you've_ gone mad."

It took Aidou a moment to reply, but when he did, it was the last thing he said before comfortably nodding off for the rest of the night.

"_The first time I kissed Kain was during a full moon."_

* * *

><p><strong>It t<strong>**ook**** Kain quite a while before he came sauntering into the lounge. **The tall red-head was dressed in his own clothes, a long scarf hanging from beneath his open coat while Aidou's jacket hung off his right arm. Like Zero, Kain had the same dangerous appearance that had Aidou calling them delinquents: piercings hung from their ears, but unlike Zero, Kain had only one hanging from his left ear. Kain also looked more approachable than Zero did, but then, the red-head _was_ friendlier, so that was probably natural.

Weary amber eyes washed over the form of his unconscious lover where he slept on the couch. They briefly turned to Zero, who was leaning against the counter sipping at some coffee to help keep him awake. Zero turned away to give Kain some privacy as he quietly approached Aidou. Kneeling down, he ran the back of his fingers over a warm cheek and released a breath. With an apologetic look, he leaned forward, pushing blond hair back, and pressed his lips to Aidou's forehead.

"I'm sorry for the trouble," he said to Zero, his eyes loyal to Aidou alone.

"If you were sorry, you could have intervened," Zero pointed out, watching Kain's expression carefully.

Kain had been the closest thing to a friend Zero had ever really had back in high school and even now. They had lost contact a few years ago, but had stumbled across each other about four months back. If it hadn't been for Kain, Zero would still be working night clubs too loud to be healthy while watching grown adults barfing all over the place.

"Why didn't you stop him?"

Kain let out a sigh. There were many times when Zero couldn't read him, and then there were times, like now, where his expressions practically held up cue cards that revealed his emotions. With a long-suffering sigh, he pushed away from the counter, crushing the paper cup he'd used for coffee and dropping it in the trash.

"Never mind." He glanced at the troubled lovers as he made his way out. "Just take him home and make up. He's even more annoying when he's depressed."

"Thank you, Zero."

"Yeah..."

* * *

><p><strong>The autumn air was chilly <strong>**at three in the morning****.** It bitterly seeped through Zero's clothes like water and clung to his throat like ice. Neither his coat nor his scarf had managed much protection for him as he walked down the empty street, his hands buried in his pockets for warmth. It was usual that, in his profession, he got off work late- later than any bus cared to run. Not that it really bothered him, Zero actually liked walking. It was the closest to regular exercise he got nowadays and it worked great when he needed to clear his head. Even so, he counted it a thing of fortune that he didn't live too far from the lounge, just a few blocks passed the main-road's intersection.

When he came across the normally busy junction, he pressed the cross button despite the lack of cars in sight, and waited for the walking signal to flash before stepping off the curb and onto the six lane road. It caught his attention then, the bright orb nestled in between layers of black clouds like a giant pearl sitting on its thrown in the sky. It seemed brighter tonight, not that Zero paid much attention to the moon on most other nights to effectively make comparisons. Looking up at it now, as he carefully crossed the wide street, Aidou's slurred words came back to him.

_It drives people mad..._

He could believe it. There was something in the way it sat up there, light bouncing off the surrounding clouds, yet leaving the rest shrouded in darkness, that had a certain promise of madness to it. Ever so leisurely, the clouds began to crowd over the moon in dark wisps of smoke, hoping to shield her from Zero's lingering gaze. And like a geisha playing coy behind her paper fan, she fell behind the veil, swallowing the light around him. The sight brought Zero to a pause. It was only for a moment that he was left in the dark, faintly aware that the closest street lamp rested a few meters away with an orange glow too pitiful to match the shine of the moon.

As the clouds cleared away, the moonlight began to spill through, slowly relighting the darkness again. Expecting to be bathed by it's radiance, Zero was blindsided by a bright light that filled his vision with white. There was a series of jumbled noises that clashed together at speeds he couldn't fully comprehend- a desperate horn, a thrum of dread, and a screech of tires. It all happened in the space of seconds that he couldn't even begin to move. But somehow, between the jumbled cacophony, he just _knew, _without a shadow of a doubt, that the light that was rushing towards him was coming from a vehicle. And not just any vehicle: it was a semi-truck.

_Damn Aidou._

* * *

><p><em>Oh no, Zero got run over by a reindeer! Haha, I'm kidding. That song's been stuck in my head all night, though.<em>

_So, I'm not dead! That seems to be my favorite way to greet everyone whenever I update something. xD Sorry if the chapter sounded awkward and muddy and clumpy...*crawls towards the corner* It's been a while since I've written anything... I want to promise updating some of my other stories, but we all know how well that goes, right? So I wont make any promises. Actions speak louder than words and all that good stuff. _

_Stop by my profile and take the poll I made. :)_

_...my goodness, I forgot how awkward this is..._

_*An omai is a Japanese custom where two single people meet and consider the thought of marriage. Kind of like a blend of a blind date and arranged marriage, give or take. I'm so great at defining things, aren't I?_


End file.
